Preparing a girder in [prehistoric] times was a great task. Green timber is much heavier than seasoned wood. And so these timbers weighing a ton or more were dragged out of the forest to the [kiva] with stout ropes made of [yucca] fiber. Sheer strength was all these people had. There were no carts with wheels on them to bear the brunt of the load. Heavy objects had to either be dragged or carried. After much sweat and toil the ends of the huge poles were rolled over into position in shallow trenches worked out for this purpose on both sides of the kiva. These three timbers formed the under structure of the roof. When they were placed exactly like the Indian wanted them, pointed rocks were driven into the ground around the ends and the open spaces were packed with [adobe] so that these huge round logs would not roll. They placed much smaller timbers of pine across the huge vigas. These were not so difficult to cut and they were laid about three feet apart. From down-timbers of pine, [piñon], cottonwood or any other type of fallen trees they hacked and ripped long narrow sections for the next roof course. The splittings were transported in bundles to the kiva and one by one they were laid close together over the small pine poles. Great quantities of thin willow branches, cane or cat-tail stems were used for the next course. Pine needles, brush, yucca leaves and whatever leafy material they could gather was placed on the top. They needed this brush and leafy material because it was to hold the thick heavy mud coats which were spread over the top. Indian women carried urn after urn of water on their heads from the Rito and stamped and mixed this mud. The only chore left was to throw dirt over the top.
When the ceremonial chamber was finished it looked like a huge, low mound—almost level with the ground. The Indians did not forget the square opening in the top for the exit of the smoke. [Kivas] were stuffy places inside. And as in all kivas there was a ventilator. This had been built during the earlier period of occupation and reused during the Great Period. It was a mere tunnel which looked like a fireplace and it suddenly turned upward like a fireplace chimney. The mouth of the chimney was level with the ground so that the draft would be downward and would go into the kiva and lift the smoke from the firebox to the ceiling and eventually out the square opening. The Indian of [Tyuonyi] did understand something about ventilating a kiva. He was smart enough to know that if the top of the ventilator was built very far above ground level it would work like a fireplace. Then all the smoke would be drawn to the floor of the kiva and sucked out through the low tunnel. And in this case he could not have remained inside. But he never found out how to ventilate his cave room in the cliff. How unfortunate!
Directly across the [kiva] in the west side was the entrance which had also been put here years before. It was merely a tunnel with a roof of small juniper branches. The outside end was open and was just large enough for the ends of a two-pole ladder to rest. Indians usually go into their kivas through the roofs, but not here. They climbed down the ladder, stooped, and with knees in a flexed position scurried through the tunnel to the inside.
The five pits in the floor, which have been mentioned before, were apparently no longer needed for they were filled in with dirt and stones tightly packed. A thin layer of dirt was thrown over the entire floor surface. [Kiva] floors are generally plastered over and during this period of occupation the [Tyuonyi] women, more than likely, were the ones who smeared four fine coats of [adobe] over the floor and smoothed it out with their hands.
I have neglected to mention one of the most important things of all—the [Sipapu] or ceremonial entrance from the underworld. It was the place of ceremonial emergence into this earthly life. Archæologists generally find a small hole in the floor of almost every [kiva]. But here at [Tyuonyi] a special kind of Sipapu was made. A piece of soft volcanic ash was formed into a rectangular block and buried edgewise in the floor. A small hole shaped like an icecream cone was drilled in the top as the spirit entrance. The Indians have a legend about this. It is symbolic of the entrance to the land of “Earth Old Women” and of the place where the human race originated. Long ago they climbed up a Douglas Spruce Tree and came into this world through a lake called Sipapu. And when they die the spirits go to Sipapu and on to the underworld. It is said that this lake is located in the sand hills north of Alamosa, Colorado. How important the kiva was to the Indians of Tyuonyi! Sipapu represented the place of creation and to them it was important in no small way. The [cacique] of each one of the big tribal kivas, both Squash and Turquoise, was a direct representative of the Earth Mother or “Earth Old Woman.”
But the dweller at [Tyuonyi] had forgotten something. He did not realize how tremendously heavy the roof of his big [kiva] was. He did not know that the small pine timbers, the splittings, brush, grass, mud and dirt would cause the big pine vigas to bend and sag and crack in the middle. It is a question whether or not the roof fell in during some important ceremony. The situation had to be remedied at any rate. Pine poles, nine or ten inches in diameter were cut so they would support the weight of the roof. Six holes were dug in the kiva floor, two under each of the big vigas. Flat rocks were put in the bottoms of the holes and the ends of the six timbers were inserted and swung into place under the big girders, and driven with heavy rocks into an upright position. The big vigas might have sagged a little but the roof never fell after this time. Flat stones were driven tight around the bottoms of the support posts and the holes in which they rested were packed solid with mud and rocks to keep the timbers from slipping. And this was how the [prehistoric] Indian at Tyuonyi built his ceremonial chambers in which women were not allowed unless requested by the men. There might have been more than one roof put on this kiva. The first one could have been laid during the latter part of the fifteenth century. It could have fallen and then been rebuilt. Archæologists do know that the last time this large kiva was roofed over was during the early part of the sixteenth century. We found one of the large charred ends of a big roof timber and it had been cut in 1513 A.D. So it was about this time that the last kiva roof was laid. Just how long it was in use is a question. It was surely used until the end of the occupation of Frijoles [Canyon] sometime near the close of the sixteenth century.
The Indians of [Tyuonyi] during the Great Period had developed the dwellings in the north cliff extensively to the number of some three hundred caves. There might have been twice as many [talus] houses to the front, some one story and others two and three stories high. The cliff population centered around the Long House while other groups built houses in different locations at the base of the north cliff. And still other groups built the big community apartment house of about four hundred rooms to a height of possibly three stories and called it “[Puwige]” or “[pueblo] where the Indian women scraped the bottoms of the pottery vessels clean.” And they built it in the form of a fort with a narrow hallway through the east side as the only means of entrance. And here they fortified themselves during times of attack by other Indians like themselves who might have been jealous of the watered Valley of the Frijoles. Another group preferred to remove themselves down the [Canyon] a quarter-mile and they erected a circular pueblo, a miniature of Puwige, seemingly. Still another group preferred to be more isolated and so they chose a deep cave one hundred fifty feet above the Canyon floor in which to build their house and [kiva].
One would think, looking at the ruined home sites, that thousands of [prehistoric] Indians dwelt at [Tyuonyi] but that was never the case. Although the dwellings were extensive they were not all occupied at any one time. Small groups moved in. Others moved out. They could have taken turns living in Hidden Valley and then returned to the northern villages of [Potsui’i], [Sankawi], [Navawi] or [Tshirege], where their kin and kind lived. Tyuonyi might have been a place for summer occupation during the growing season. When planting time came little groups trickled in from the large northern community villages and remained for a while. One cannot be sure of what went on in the [Canyon]. It was a suitable place for continued occupation with the possibility of an influx of population during the summer months. One can only speculate. Scientific investigation reveals nothing in this regard. The legends are scant now—the old men who remembered them are just about gone. So one is left with little about how Indians lived on the [Pajarito] Plateau during prehistoric times.
CHAPTER V
Living in the Great Period
It would have been an utter impossibility for thousands of Indians to have lived off the corn, beans, squash and pumpkins raised in the Valley of the Frijoles. But the several hundred who did live here had to eat and in order to eat they had to work. The Indians of [Tyuonyi] were farmers and were largely dependent upon the products of the soil. Only a small part of their sustenance was from animals and birds. Of course, there was game of all kinds. There were deer, perhaps elk and mountain sheep, bears, turkeys, rabbits, and fish in the creek. But even though this was wild country, several hundred Indians living in the locality would soon have depleted the stock with their communal hunts. In the fall of the year there were grouse in the high mountains and ducks along the [Rio Grande]. But imagine how difficult it would have been to kill a grouse or a duck with a crude bow and arrow. The deer might have been the prize of the Indians at Frijoles. They ate the meat and used the hides for [buckskin]. They knew the rabbit and the mouse and knew that the woodrat gathered the edible [piñon] nuts to store away in its hiding place. The robber, since there was a large crop of the nuts only once every few years! They ate the squirrel. Skunk skins were probably used for ceremonial purposes. The raccoon, however scarce, likely formed part of the diet of the cliff dweller. And although Indians knew the birds of the forest, they probably did not digest the meat of hawks very well. As a matter of fact, most birds were too fast for the ever-seeking valley dweller with his crude weapons.